Tuesday, December 10, 2013

To Till or Not To Till, that is the question? Part 1:

The concept of no-till is to favor the proliferation of
mycorrhizal fungal roots on the roots of the crop. The mycorrhizae
produce a vast network of fungus roots called hyphae that are microscopic,
however they are of critical importance in holding the soil structure together
in what we call macro-aggregate structure.They are also responsible for many other benefits to the host
plant, but for now let’s stick to the soil structure benefit. The slide below
shows this soil fungal hyphae relationship.

When we plow or till soil we clobber this relationship, making it
difficult for mycorrhizal fungi to perpetuate in an agricultural setting for
very long, resulting in most agriculture crops not being mycorrhizal.
This includes organic farms as well!

Beyond the physical characteristic of the fungal hyphae gluing the
soil macro-aggregate structure together, the hyphae also contain huge amounts
of Nitrogen, which potentially is the single largest contributor of that
element to the Soil Food Web. How do we know this, because research has
measured the fungal tissues at 10% Nitrogen, a big number when
compared to the many approved organic fertilizers on the market. For
example, liquid fish is only 2% Nitrogen, a very expensive way to get
Nitrogen into the system. Protein Crumblies, a product of Soil Secrets is
8% Nitrogen and a much more affordable way of getting organic nitrogen into the
system, when supplemental nitrogen is needed! So if you inoculate
your crop seed every year with a mycorrhizal product like Soil Secrets “White
Lightning” you will most likely have an abundance of mycorrhizal tissues always
cycling in the soil contributing Nitrogen while they are also gluing the soil
together. What a Great Idea!

Click on the following link to learn more about Soil Secrets “White
Lightning” mycorrhizal inoculant: